Con la invasi\u00f3n de Rusia a Ucrania llegando a su 6to mes, muchos pa\u00edses est\u00e1n proveyendo billones de US$ en asistencia militar, para contribuir con las autoridades de Kiev en el esfuerzo nacional para defender su soberan\u00eda. Desde marzo, miembros de las FFAA de EUA, NATO y otros pa\u00edses, conformaron una Estructura \u201cAd-Hoc\u201d de Gesti\u00f3n Log\u00edstica, destinada a garantizar que todos los elementos de esa asistencia multinacional, lleguen a destino en tiempo y forma. Esa organizaci\u00f3n, denominada \u201cEUCOM Control Center-Ukraine\/International Donor Coordination Centre\u201d (ECCU\/IDCC), gestiona, coordina y supervisa los env\u00edos y adem\u00e1s, asegura que los usuarios ucranianos est\u00e9n adecuadamente entrenados para emplear el equipamiento que reciben.<\/p>\n
STUTTGART, Germany \u2014 As the war between invading Russian soldiers and defensive Ukrainian troops enters its sixth month, nations around the world have provided billions of dollars worth of military assistance to Kyiv to help defend its sovereignty.<\/p>\n
Since early March, a cohort of American service members and a rotating crew of multinational partners have set up shop in U.S. European Command headquarters to ensure equipment gets from the donor nation to Ukraine\u2019s doorstep.<\/p>\n
That team, known as the EUCOM Control Center-Ukraine\/International Donor Coordination Centre, or ECCU\/IDCC, oversees the deliveries while also ensuring Ukrainians receive proper training for the equipment.<\/p>\n
The logistics cell grew out of two discrete teams led by the U.S. and U.K. militaries, officials told reporters Wednesday at EUCOM headquarters at U.S. Army Garrison Stuttgart in southwest Germany. The command had set up the ECCU\/IDCC to help coordinate partners\u2019 military assistance going to Ukraine; its British counterparts had a similar idea. Now, the two nations lead the joint cell that includes allies and partners from around the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur aim is to support the Ukrainians to defend their sovereignty,\u201d said Rear Adm. Duke Heinz, director of logistics at U.S. European Command. Shortly after the Russian invasion, the U.S. military saw a willingness from allies and partners to provide Ukrainians with security assistance.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe goal was: We need to deconflict that,\u201d Heinz said. \u201cWe don\u2019t know how much the Ukrainians can absorb, and \u2026 we didn\u2019t want border control crossing points that were delivering security assistance [and] munitions [at] the same border control points that independent agencies were using to deliver blankets and first aid kits.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2018A coalition of the willing\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n From a stifling hot \u2014 and air conditioning-free \u2014 secure multipurpose space known internally as \u201cthe Attic,\u201d dozens of service members from across 26 NATO and non-NATO nations are separated into sections to work on plans, support efforts, communications, movements and operations. A row of foreign liaison officers from rotating nations are also present. A Ukrainian military representative is embedded with the team, identifying the requests coming from Kyiv that are then worked by the ECCU\/IDCC team.<\/p>\n Officials described the process as similar to a registry, where Ukraine puts in a request for specific equipment, and participating nations identify the needs they can fill and to what extent.<\/p>\n The multinational team is a \u201ccoalition of the willing,\u201d the officials said, providing any combination or amount of transportation, aid, training resources or funding.<\/p>\n Ever since the U.S. and U.K. groups merged in March, the cell\u2019s functions have evolved. At the start of the war, the logistics coordination cell largely supported the delivery of small arms munitions and anti-tank equipment, said British Army Brig. Gen. Chris King, chief of the ECCU\/IDCC. Then, it began helping transfer Soviet-era equipment that was more complex to move, yet familiar to Ukrainian forces, he added.<\/p>\n With the arrival of sophisticated equipment provided by NATO and other allies, the cell is now a \u201cone-stop shop\u201d that not only coordinates and tracks deliveries coming from all over the world to Ukraine, but also organizes the training of its armed forces to operate and sustain the equipment. The challenge is lining up the training schedule with equipment deliveries, Heinz noted.<\/p>\n That process is also multinational. King described a situation where the United Kingdom donated 105mm howitzers to Kyiv. Since New Zealand is an operator of that howitzer, the Pacific nation provided training support and parts, while the training itself was conducted in the United Kingdom. The U.S. military supplied ammunition and tactical vehicles to tow the howitzers.<\/p>\n The United States has trained approximately 1,500 Ukrainian troops to date, according to EUCOM. The United Kingdom has committed to providing a major training operation for Ukrainian forces, with the potential to train up to 10,000 soldiers every 120 days, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n Evading challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n Despite Russian threats to disrupt the West\u2019s efforts to arm Ukraine, the ECCU\/IDCC team has so far avoided major issues, officials said.<\/p>\n The cell has not yet experienced a cyberattack or other forms of disruption from Russia, King said. \u201cBut [Russia] will continue to learn, and we need to be ready for that.\u201d<\/p>\n Heinz said his team hasn\u2019t experienced mobility obstacles in getting equipment to Ukraine\u2019s borders. \u201cSecurity assistance doesn\u2019t stack up here on the continent in a warehouse,\u201d he explained, adding that the longest time a piece of equipment would sit in an airport or train depot would be 12-24 hours.<\/p>\n When a nation offers to provide military assistance, the cell coordinates the logistics to keep the assets \u201cin flow\u201d from the providing nation to the border of Ukraine. The door-to-door process can take 48-96 hours, Heinz said.<\/p>\n Three allies bordering Ukraine are allowing military assistance to be dropped off on their borders; Poland is the sole nation that EUCOM would identify.<\/p>\n Two of the three nations allow Ukrainians to enter the country and travel to a specific pickup point to gather the equipment. \u201cSo the Ukrainians are responsible for the movement to the border, and what border control points they will transition into the country,\u201d Heinz said.<\/p>\n The third nation requested equipment be taken right up to the border and transitioned from there, he added.<\/p>\n Asked about whether military systems could end up on the black market, Heinz said the team has been \u201cvery upfront\u201d with Ukraine officials about \u201cthe intent\u201d of the use for U.S.-provided military equipment.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not serial-number tracking these once they go across the border,\u201d he noted. \u201cWe know everything that we\u2019ve delivered. \u2026 We have an inventory of it. But once it crosses the border, it\u2019s in the Ukrainians\u2019 hands.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that thus far, the team is unaware of any deliveries failing to reach their final destination.<\/p>\n Shifting mobility modes<\/strong><\/p>\n As of July 21, the ECCU\/IDCC team had coordinated the movement of 78,000 tons of military assistance over 1.4 million kilometers (869,920 miles)of airspace and 450,000 kilometers (279,617 miles) of ground distance. A source close to the cell told Defense News the estimated value of materiel donations is difficult to quantify due to several factors, including a lack of information from providers.<\/p>\n More than 800 flights have transported equipment to the Ukrainian border as of that date, but officials noted that while the cadence of deliveries to Ukraine remained constant over the past few months, those methods have changed.<\/p>\n In March and April, it was easy to fly in small arms as well as anti-tank and anti-armor capabilities that nations initially provided, Heinz noted. Now, as the equipment list expands to include tanks and howitzers, rail and sea methods are also being employed.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the flow has been nonstop,\u201d he said. Even as European parliaments begin their summer vacations and the United States preps for midterm elections in a few months, there\u2019s no fear of a \u201csummer lull\u201d in deliveries, he added.<\/p>\n King noted that when the cell was first set up, the team was moving quickly to coordinate the rapidly incoming military assistance donations. Now, the team is planning deliveries up to two months out, he said.<\/p>\n The flow of Soviet-era equipment has started to dwindle, but the countries who donated those assets are now interested in replacing those aged systems with NATO-specific military assets, Heinz noted. \u201cI think the future for the alliance looks fairly bright, from a military equipment footing perspective,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n There remains one supplier of Soviet-era 152mm and 122mm mortar shells that\u2019s providing equipment from a hot production line, Heinz said, though he declined to name the supplier.<\/p>\n